Review: Reaper’s Stand by Joanna Wylde

Reviewed by Carrie

Hooray for another book in my favorite biker/MC series! Four books into the series and while I have my favorites, each story is brash, sexy and addictive reading. This review is spoiler free!

London Armstrong hasn’t had an easy life but she’s not complaining. London deals with every situation pragmatically, from raising her junkie cousin’s daughter with health issues to building a cleaning business from the ground up to jumping back in the dating waters after six years. She’s finally starting to feel a little breathing room now that she’s picked up a few more contracts and her charge, Jessica, has graduated high school. London is grateful that Jessica has made it this far in life, given health issues that resulted from her mother’s drug use during pregnancy. However, there’s no line in the sand where being a parent ends and in trying to rescue Jessica from bad decisions, London finds herself at the mercy of the Reapers MC president.

Reese “Picnic” Hayes’ parade of young and dumb girls keeps things very superficial and that’s just the way he likes it. When London asks Picnic for help with Jessica, Picnic knows he should just leave London alone and let the nice lady be, but he can’t help himself. London is nothing like his usual bimbos because she’s just a few years younger than Picnic, knows nothing about the MC culture and is just a regular woman. Yet, for the first time since his wife, Heather, passed away, Picnic feels not just desire, but a need to take care of someone again. As London and Picnic try to fight their ever growing attraction, larger forces keep throwing them together. Just as they start to figure themselves out, London is forced to make the ultimate choice. She gets a crash course in MC life in a very big way and it’s a violent road to their HEA.

I always like an older romance because the characters almost always are more logical and actually think through their actions. They usually talk to each other instead of jumping the gun. London was very much like this except for the big choice she made. I just don’t understand why she didn’t go talk with Picnic since she clearly trusted him. In all other instances, London is a fierce, strong heroine who is very relatable. Picnic is rude and crude and a pillar of strength. His little “conversations” with his wife clearly show a man who loved deeply. I liked that London was respectful and acknowledged Heather’s space in Picnic’s life and wasn’t threatened by it. Their relationship develops quickly but doesn’t come off as instalove.

The romance definitely takes a back seat to the action of the story. If you haven’t read the previous books, you might be a little lost, but I don’t think it will negate the overall enjoyment of the book. All the MC guys have a nice chunk of time in action and dialog (Gage delivers my favorite line below) and the overall plot moved forward quite a bit. Wylde also gives an extra epilogue so readers get a peek at things down the line. For now, I’ll take whichever book comes next as soon as possible.

Favorite Quote: “Anyone can suck your dick, but a woman who stays on top of the toilets is a goddamn treasure”